What are the gameplay and technical differences from the original, in the new online release of FF7 on Square's site?

I read that it uses cloud saves - are they compulsory, and does it need a net connection in that case? (if so, does it need to be always on?)

What about popular glitches or tricks in the game itself, do they still work the exact same as earlier, or have some of them been fixed (e.g. afk farming Midgard Zolom, one-time activation of Pandora's Box)

Any engine changes to allow higher resolution or AA for the graphics, or other cosmetic upgrades? (yes, I'm aware this is a re-release not a remaster)

2 Answers
2

The game requires Internet connection during the initial setup because of its DRM. After that, you can play offline if you wish. However, the way the game is programmed is that it always checks for connection and attempts to sync the save files to the cloud servers first. If it cannot find the connection, then it gives you the option to save locally.

It is a pain sometimes since a lot of times it would have problems connecting to their cloud server even though there is an internet connection. Many people have reported the "fail to sync" problem in game forums. Their cloud server is not very reliable for some reason.

The game still has a few bugs, but at least it does not crash on modern computers like the old one does (the old one runs on directx 5). The 3D graphics is cleaned up a bit and looks nice.

I was thinking of buying this just to try the new features (since I still have my original PS discs). From what I can tell, the new things that are added are achievements, cloud saves, some kind of character editor, and some fixes to old bugs/glitches.

The Final Fantasy VII PC website teases several new features. The game
will get unlockable achievements, "cloud" saves (hopefully the pun is
intended) as well as something called Character Booster.

Character Booster will allow players to automatically max out their
in-game health, experience and Gil (Final Fantasy cash, to the
uninitiated) in order to cruise more easily through the game's
legendary story. It's not clear if that will involve micropayments or
not.

Cloud saves will let players save their games to Square Enix servers,
so it can be continued on more than one home PC or laptop. This is not
dissimilar to Valve's Steam Cloud on the Steam digital distribution
platform, and comparable features on Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus.

Heh I was reading about the North Crater question before I asked about the differences :). I know about the cloud saves, but want more info as I mentioned - like if its optional, or requires always-on net etc.
–
AlokSep 14 '12 at 19:54

I wish I could confirm on those :/ Sadly I don't have the game. I was just going off of articles and other stories I have seen about it. I would guess that the achievements save offline. I know you can share/showoff via Twitter/Facebook etc.
–
leetySep 14 '12 at 19:55